Meta-analysis of the prognosis of Different treatments of symptomatic moyamoya disease.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical revascularization versus conservative treatment and different surgical modalities, in order to provide evidence for the patient with MMD to choose the appropriate treatment.

METHODS: We comprehensively searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library for the articles published regarding MMD treatment. If the I2 value, which evaluated the heterogeneity, was less than 50%, a fixed effect model was used; if not, a random effect model was applied.

RESULTS: Twenty-seven articles were included in the meta-analysis. Surgery group is more advantageous in reducing the risk of future stroke events than conservative treatment in MMD patients (odds ratio [OR] 0.26, 95% CI 0.20-0.33, p < 0.001). In addition, the surgical group also had an advantage in terms of increased cerebral perfusion (OR 7.16, 95% CI 3.28-15.64, p <0.001) and death due to rebleeding (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.10-0.72, p <0.01). Direct surgery showed a significant efficacy over indirect surgery (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.32-3.13, p <0.01). No obvious difference was found between Direct and Indirect bypass subset (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.51-1.14, p =0.185). Angiographic results in patients undergoing direct bypass surgery are more pronounced (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.06-0.67, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: In patients with symptomatic moyamoya disease, bypass surgery is more effective than conservative treatment to prevent future strokes. In surgical patients, direct bypass seems to reduce the risk of stroke more than an indirect bypass.